There is a publicly known binding apparatus for printed sheets, described in, for example, JP-A-2000-118511 and JP-A-2001-19260.
The conventional binding apparatus for printed sheets comprises a carrying-in conveyor part that sets printed sheets in a planar manner on a conveyance surface of a carrying conveyor to positionally shift the printed sheets in a direction of conveyance so that leading edges thereof in the direction of conveyance can be seen from above, and conveys the printed sheets in succession in a transverse direction, a reverse conveyor part contiguous to the carrying-in conveyor part to convey the printed sheets upward from the transverse direction and convey the same downward in a direction opposed to the transverse direction, an accumulating part that sets the printed sheets in upright position at a terminal end of the reverse conveyor part to arrange and accumulate the same in the transverse direction, and a binding part that binds the printed sheets thus accumulated.
The reverse conveyor part includes an upper conveyor and a lower conveyor divided vertically in a portion thereof, in which the printed sheets are conveyed upward, and a branch part is provided at a terminal end of the lower conveyor to discharge the printed sheets from the conveyor. The branch part serves for taking out non-defective printed sheets.
Further, the carrying-in conveyor part is provided with a dam-up part (a device forming a space between printed sheets and printed sheets, which are conveyed in succession), and a dam-up eliminating part (a device eliminating a space between printed sheets and printed sheets so as to convey printed sheets in succession) is provided at a junction of the carrying-in conveyor part and the reverse conveyor part. A defective product taking-out part is provided on the dam-up eliminating part.
Since three devices, that is, the dam-up eliminating part, the defective product taking-out part, and the branch part for taking-out of non-defective products are provided separately in the conventional binding apparatus, the conveyor is complicated in construction.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a binding apparatus for printed sheets, in which such three devices are united into one to make a conveyor simple in construction.